The city of Omelas is a city compared to heaven, but in reality, it is more like hell. The Festival of Summer paints a perfect picture of a city of happiness with an air of excitement, characterized by boisterous running children, prancing horses and flag-adorned boats. The mere reason all the people in the small town are so happy is because this one adolescent child is taking all the weight. “The Child” is an independent and significant character in the short story, “The Ones Who Walk Away From the Omelas” because he is sacrificial, lived in despair for others happiness and spent much of his life in fear. He lived in an extremely small area with none of the necessities that are important to basic survival. His appearance suggests the child to be about six; however, he was actually ten years old. The story of this utopia of a city and the boy show great symbolism and is a lot more in depth than one may think.

This child can be compared to Jesus because they both did something sacrificial. Just as Jesus died on the cross to cleanse people of their sins, this child suffered so that the others of the town could live a guilt free life. Jesus is an example of a martyr, which is a person who willingly suffers death rather than renounces his or her religion. Not only did he suffer pain and humiliation, but Jesus sacrificed His is life for who He claimed himself to be. However, the child is a scapegoat, meaning he bearded the blame for others or suffered in their place. The child sacrificed his life for the other people’s happiness. He also called out, “I will be good, please let me out (Le Guin 325).” That is a huge weight to bear, especially for a young child.

In Omelas, the one emotion citizens are not allowed to feel is guilt. The people of the city believe that someone has to take the burden and it is the child. He is living in...

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URS 1006
31 March 2014
City Title
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... When writing it is very important to use either logos, pathos, or ethos. Ethos is the appeal to moral character, logos appeals with reason and logic, and pathos appeals to the emotions. It is very important to use all of these when writing but of course, everyone has a favorite. My favorite happens to be Logos. I would prefer to use logos because I like backing myself up with logical ideas that are facts.
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...Life in Omelas
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...﻿Antoine David de Beublain
Stanford Summer Program
“Smarter Cities and Communities”
Essay 1:
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What should it be?
What problems do smart cities solve?
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